Appropriations approved for fiscal year 2011

Last night, the Milford School Board approved appropriations (i.e., “the budget”) for fiscal year 2011, which runs from July, 2010 through June, 2011. This is the first step in the 5-year forecast process, which projects the budget over the next five years. The board will hold a work session the second week of October to begin discussions on the forecast. I will send out a special newsletter when the date and time is set for that work session.

Treasurer Randy Seymour presented the highlights of the budget, which includes total revenue of $74.5 million, $59 million of which is in the General Fund.

Mr. Seymour outlined the various income sources and expenses for the upcoming year. The MEVSD current tax base is $977.6 million, which means that one mill generates just over $977,000. State funding is almost $17 million, which is down appr. $360,000 versus last year. Our state allocation will be reduced by approximately this amount each year until a total of $4.8 million has been removed from our budget. This is part of the new Evidence Based Model the state is using for school funding.

As with all school districts, salaries/benefits are the majority of the General Fund at $42.8 million. Purchased services, which include tuition we must pay for special education, charter schools, post secondary, and others, as well as utilities and over $5 million for busing, is estimated at $13.1 million, with supplies & materials at $2.2 million.

With our current beginning cash balance of $11.7 million added to receipts available for General Fund expenditures of $57.3 million, we have a total of $69 million available for the appropriation this year. Estimated expenditures are $59.7 million, leaving an estimated end of year cash balance of a little over $9 million.

The report Mr. Seymour presented last night will soon be available on the district website if you would like to see the details.